The cheers for the FIRST LEGO League state championship tournament are not as loud as a typical basketball game, but when a robot arm knocks down a basket of tiny pink and white Lego pieces -- "bacteria" -- the applause is certainly as enthusiastic.

It comes from the parents and friends of elementary and middle school students who run robots made from Legos through "food safety" scenarios: washing off bacteria, harvesting produce, monitoring temperatures and exterminating rats.

Roger Swanson, co-director of the tournament, held Saturday and Sunday, said it "accurately reflects what an engineer does."

Teams composed of four to 10 kids, ages 8 to 14, rotated through three judging panels, three rounds of competition and practice rooms from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The hallways of host school Liberty High School in Hillsboro were clogged with groups of kids wearing matching shirts and outfits -- pink plaid pajama pants, pink shirts and pink fluffy hats or the more subdued black chef's jacket with team name "Flying Penguins" on the lapel -- as they presented to judges on their research, technical knowledge and values, such as teamwork and inclusion.

View full sizeRandy L. Rasmussen/The OregonianVanessa Heffner, 10, and Kandee Xiong, 9, both of Aumsville, react to a stall by their "Bacteria Bots" team robot Sunday morning in the Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League State Championship Tournament at Liberty High School in Hillsboro.

From 24 qualifying tournaments, 118 teams descended on Hillsboro for the two-day championship. Each day crowned winners. Saturday, Lego Ninja Warriors of Hillsboro took home the top prize. On Sunday, the winner was AFOOFA, a Washington County 4-H team. Each of those teams advanced to a higher competition, one in St. Louis, Mo., and the other in San Diego.

FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is a nonprofit that runs four competitions for youths centered around science and technology. The Oregon Robotics Tournament and Outreach Program, ORTOP, organizes three of those programs for Oregon and southern Washington.

ORTOP volunteers, mostly engineers and programmers, roamed the school's halls giving directions, judging and refereeing. They raise funds and, with donations from Google, Garmin and others, give out more than $80,000 in scholarships to help pay for robotics kits and registration fees. The organization also works to increase participation of girls and minorities.

Some teams pay it forward. AFOOFA -- All For One, One For All -- team members asked the principal of Reedville Elementary School in Aloha if they could write the curriculum and run a six-week after-school program to teach students some of the skills from FIRST Lego League.

Most of the team were veterans of the program and unanimously said it encouraged them to pursue engineering and technology paths in school, including the team's rookie, 12-year-old Cassie Larimer.

"Before I was interested in writing and stuff, but now I'm thinking about engineering and technology areas," she said.

There's room for all skills on the teams. Ryan Stankey, 12, of St. Joseph's Catholic School team from Vancouver, Wash., called Cardinal Minds, said each team member brings something to the table.

"Creativity differs from person to person," he said.

In the practice room, Team Omega from Catlin Gabel puzzled over why their robot pulled a refrigerator truck correctly in practice but not in competition.

"We have the problem that it works 100 percent of the time here and 10 percent of the time in competition," team member Ryan Selden said.

In the end, the competition is designed to encourage the kids, even if they don't win.

"We're constantly amazed by the age of these kids and what they're able to do," Swanson said.